Dork Love
Okay, so I really do have to come completely clean at some point about why I neglected this blog for several weeks. I was consumed with lust for a reality TV show contestant. To be exact, this man.
Yes, srsly.
I didn’t actually start off liking him much. I’m not keen on the Showcase swing dancing he specializes in – basically, lots of choreographed lifts and tricks – so I wasn’t particularly impressed when I saw him dance one of his championship routines during his audition for the show. Plus, how do you take someone seriously whose actual, official name is “Benjiman”?
So when he started off the competitive rounds by being paired with gorgeous curvy hip-hop/jazz diva Donyelle for a booty-pumping Shane Sparks hip-hop routine, I was all ready for him to suck, but he totally didn’t. This routine set the stage for what would be one of the most awesomely enjoyable seasons of reality TV I’ve ever watched (and I’ve watched a lot, y’all), and Benji and Donyelle went on from strength to strength with a rather delightful cha-cha, a pretty fierce (in the Tyra Banks sense) pop-jazz and a dreamy Viennese waltz. Benji also did some great dances with other people, like this joyful jazz routine with Natalie and two crazy slick Latin dances with his cousin Heidi, but my favourites are unquestionably the ones he did with Donyelle because I went crazy for their partnership in a way I haven’t since Mulder and Scully. Yes, I’m fully aware this is a bizarre thing for a twenty-six year old to get sucked into, but talk to the hand.
Hot moves.
Hot ass.
Hot chemistry.
Hot couple.
I also started coming across Youtube videos which showcase what I really admire about Benji’s dancing. Jack and Jill routines are almost always my favourite part of a swing dance event because I love being blown away by what good dancers can improvise on the spot, with a randomly assigned partner and music they haven’t heard till they’re standing on the dancefloor and it starts playing. This one’s my favourite because halfway through it becomes obvious that he loves the same superstar dancer who ruled my teenage years. This one’s got lots of nice slinky moves. It’s frankly hard to believe this one isn’t choreographed because they’re so amazingly in sync, but I guess that’s what you get when two swing champions get paired.
So perhaps you’re thinking, this is all very well but I still don’t get why this skinny dorky Mormon swing dancer constitutes her biggest celebrity crush of the past few years?
Perhaps this will help?
Um, yee-hah?
Other stuff that works for him is his endearingly goofy personality, and I admire the fact that he walked away at the peak of his dance career to serve a two-year Mormon mission in Mexico, then came back, set up a charity to continue helping their community, and reclaimed his US Open Showcase swing title the same year. Boy has heart, gumption and is ripped.
What’s not to love?
I can see now why you would choose to spend a lifetime with Alec.
Oh, Michelle. Michelle, Michelle, Michelle.
I’m at a complete loss for words.
And I’m a swing dancer too!
I don’t know what you mean, Dom. Benji’s dead cool.
That guy’s got nothing on me. I’ve got twice the chest width, twice the biceps, twice the abs, twice the length, twice the girth. And my towel is twice as short.
This is the only reality show I can stomach. At least they’re doing some original choreography that I haven’t seen before whereas in the singing shows they’re just belting out the same 10 or 15 karaoke klassics we’ve heard a bajillion times with really natty backing music.
Is Shane Sparks the guy who did the sort of mime artist type hip hop routine in the first series? Absolutely mindblowing. Must try and find that on Youtube.
Ick. That’s far too many topless man shots for just one blog post.
James, I think this is the routine you’re talking about. Yup, it’s a Shane Sparks and definitely one of the stand-outs of the entire series.
In defence of the singing shows, people are singing slightly less cliched songs these days. Elliot (American Idol season 5) sang lots of obscure soul tracks, and the winner Taylor Hicks was into blues and soul too.
Oh and the Rockstar contestants generally piss all over almost every Idol contestant in terms of singing and performance ability (more wankers too though) – check out Dilana’s awesome cover of Johnny Cash’s Ring Of Fire for something that really blindsided me, plus I’m quite partial to Ryan’s screamo-lite cover of Losing My Religion. Rockstar contestants also have to perform their own tracks, and some are pretty decent – these two were way better than anything by Supernova (i.e. the band the winner would be joining), which I admit isn’t saying much, but still.
Yes, I watch too much reality TV.